Migration and the UK's Changing Population Geography

How migration changes population geography

Population geography concerns how many people live in a place, where they live and the characteristics of that population, including its age structure. Over the past 50 years, migration has changed all three aspects of the UK's population.

National migration moves people between places within the UK. International migration involves crossing a national border to live in another country. People may move for employment or education, to join family, to improve their surroundings or to escape conflict and persecution.

The distinction matters for population numbers. A person moving from a UK city to a UK village adds to the village's population but leaves the UK's total unchanged. Someone moving into the UK adds to its population, while someone leaving reduces it. The balance between immigration and emigration is net migration.

$$\text{Population change} = (\text{births} - \text{deaths}) + (\text{immigration} - \text{emigration})$$

Migration therefore works alongside natural increase, rather than being the only cause of population growth.

National migration redistributes people and age groups

The UK's concentration of people in urban areas developed partly through earlier rural-to-urban migration for industrial work. Over the past 50 years, movements within and between urban and rural areas have continued to reshape this pattern.

Cities attract young adults because they offer universities, employment and social opportunities. Moving for study or work increases the proportion of young adults in destinations and removes some of that age group from the places they leave.

Other people move outwards. Families may seek more space and a quieter, less polluted environment in suburbs or nearby rural settlements. Movement from towns and cities into rural settlements is called counter-urbanisation. It can increase the population of villages while allowing some residents to remain connected to urban jobs through commuting.

Retirement migration has a different effect. The UK's south coast attracts retirees partly because of its relatively mild climate. These movements increase the proportion of older people in receiving areas. National migration therefore changes not just the distribution of people, but also local demand for services: student destinations need accommodation for young adults, while retirement destinations need services suited to older residents.

International migration increases numbers unevenly

International migration has contributed substantially to population growth. Between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, the population of England and Wales increased from about 56.1 million to 59.6 million. Natural increase accounted for approximately 1.5 million of this growth, while positive net migration accounted for approximately 2.0 million, or 57.5%.

International migrants do not settle evenly across the UK. Urban areas offer jobs, universities and established communities that can help newcomers find support. London is particularly important as a destination.

The 2021 Census illustrates this uneven distribution. People born outside the UK made up 40.6% of London's population, compared with 6.8% in the North East of England and 6.9% in Wales. At a smaller scale, the proportion was 56.1% in Brent, a London borough, but 2.6% in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Migration therefore contributes much more strongly to the population composition of some places than others.

These figures measure where residents were born. They do not mean that every overseas-born resident arrived recently or has a non-UK nationality.

Migration changes age structure

People often migrate during the years when they are studying, starting careers or forming families. International migration can therefore add disproportionately to younger and working-age groups.

Among overseas-born residents living in England and Wales in 2021, 42.4% had been aged 18–29 when they arrived, and another 21.1% had been aged 30–44. This helps explain why migration can increase the workforce in destination areas. Some migrants also arrive with children or subsequently have children, contributing to younger age groups and demand for schools.

Migration can help offset population ageing, but it does not automatically stop it. Migrants themselves grow older, and the overall age structure also depends on births, deaths and the ages of people leaving. Likewise, national migration can make a retirement destination older even while international migration adds young adults elsewhere.

How immigration policy has shaped diversity

Immigration policy affects who can enter a country and under what conditions. It therefore influences both the scale of migration and the range of countries from which migrants arrive.

An important background to the last 50 years was post-war recruitment. Labour shortages after the Second World War encouraged migration from Commonwealth countries, including the Caribbean, India and Pakistan. These movements helped establish communities whose influence continued through later migration and subsequent generations. Immigration controls introduced by the early 1970s restricted further arrivals, but did not remove the communities already established.

The UK's participation in European integration later opened another important migration route. EU free movement enabled citizens of member states to move to live and work in other member states, subject to its rules. It did not mean that all border controls disappeared.

In 2004, countries including Poland joined the EU, making access to the UK labour market easier for their citizens. Many arrivals were young adults seeking work and higher wages. Poland became one of the largest overseas countries of birth among residents of England and Wales: the census counted 743,000 Polish-born residents in 2021.

Policy changes also help explain migration from Romania. UK working restrictions for Romanian citizens were lifted in 2014. Between 2011 and 2021, the Romanian-born population of England and Wales rose from about 80,000 to 539,000. Easier access to employment helped turn an opportunity to migrate into a much larger resident population.

Following Brexit, the UK moved away from EU free movement towards a points-based approach to work immigration. This selects applicants according to eligibility criteria, including skills, rather than offering the previous EU free-movement route. Policy can thus change which routes are available without ending international migration.

Successive movements have increased ethnic and cultural diversity, bringing a wider range of languages, religions, food traditions and community organisations. However, birthplace, ethnicity and culture are not interchangeable: UK-born people can belong to diverse ethnic communities, and people born in the same country need not share one culture.

Using census data to identify and explain change

A census provides a snapshot of residents at a particular time. Comparing equivalent measures across censuses allows geographers to identify changes in population numbers and composition.

For example, these figures describe usual residents of England and Wales, not the whole UK:

Start by identifying the measure, dates and area. Then describe the change with evidence. The overseas-born population increased by 2.5 million, calculated as $10.0 - 7.5$. Its share of the population increased by 3.4 percentage points, calculated as $16.8 - 13.4$. Both its number and its relative importance increased.

Next, compare places. London's overseas-born share rose by 3.9 percentage points and remained much higher than the England and Wales average. This shows that the geographical pattern was uneven, rather than every area changing equally.

Finally, connect the pattern to a supported explanation. Employment opportunities and established communities help explain London's attractiveness; the lifting of working restrictions helps explain the increase in Romanian-born residents. The census identifies the pattern, but a difference between two counts does not by itself prove its cause.

Country of birth is useful for long-term comparisons because it does not change during a person's life. Nevertheless, an increase in overseas-born residents is not the same as the total number arriving between censuses: some migrants leave again or die. A census snapshot must therefore be distinguished from a migration flow measured over a period.

Numbers, distribution and age

• National migration: redistributes people within the UK; no direct change to the UK total.
• International migration: changes totals through immigration and emigration.
• Cities attract students and workers; counter-urbanisation moves people towards rural settlements; retirement migration increases older populations in destinations.
• International migrants often arrive as young adults, adding to working-age groups. Migration can offset, but does not necessarily stop, ageing.

$$\text{Population change} = (\text{births} - \text{deaths}) + (\text{immigration} - \text{emigration})$$

Policy and diversity

• Post-war Commonwealth recruitment established communities; controls by the early 1970s restricted further arrivals.
• EU free movement and 2004 enlargement encouraged migration, notably from Poland.
• 2014: Romanian working restrictions lifted; Romanian-born residents in England and Wales rose from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021.
• Post-Brexit work immigration uses a points-based approach.
• Migration increases cultural and ethnic diversity, but birthplace is not ethnicity.

Census evidence to remember

England and Wales, 2011–2021:

• Overseas-born residents: 7.5 million → 10.0 million.
• Overseas-born share: 13.4% → 16.8%, up 3.4 percentage points.
• Net migration accounted for 57.5% of population growth.

2021 overseas-born shares: London 40.6%; North East 6.8%; Wales 6.9%.

Compare the same measure and geography across dates; quantify change, compare places, then explain the pattern. Census resident counts are snapshots, not annual migration flows.